1 Year!

We made it! Bennett is 1 year old today! I spent most of the day reminiscing of where we were one year ago today. I never did post Bennett's birth story. Mostly because at the time it was too painful to recall it. Basically it went like this...nothing went as planned. And now, one year later, I finally am understanding why that is. Because as a mother, nothing goes as planned, ever. And now, one year later, I am finally getting to be ok with that. The more you push for how things "should" be, the more resistance you come up against. The more you relax and "listen" to your little one, the easier things are. I'm not saying that Bennett will always get what he wants. It is my job to figure out what he needs and adapt accordingly. Ok, enough about what I've learned in the past year (and that by no means is all of it) and on to what's really important. What's going on with Bennett?

Bennett's birthday party was scheduled for this past Saturday but mother nature had other plans. Instead of a pool party, we had a hurricane party. Thankfully, the forecasts were off and the hurricane was not as bad as predicted but needless to say we rescheduled the party. We did celebrate his birthday today by going to the zoo.

And dinner out at the Cheesecake Factory.

And just all around silliness

Over the past month, Bennett has been working on his communication skills. He does say words, but not at the right time quite yet. Over the past few weeks, he has started to do some sign language. He can sign "all done", "milk", and "more." He also waves "hi" and "bye." He says "dada" quite a bit but I don't think he associates it with Eric. I am still waiting to hear "mama."

He is still not walking on his own and I'm ok with that. He loves his push walker and between that and crawling he can get any where he wants to. He is cruising between furniture more and more. He has no interest in letting go. He will stand without support for a couple of seconds if you let go of him but quickly falls to the ground and not because he loses his balance. Instead of working on his walking skills, he is busy perfecting the art of climbing. Here he is during our "photo shoot" this afternoon.

I think we are going to have our hands full!

All in all he is a happy, busy little boy. I absolutely love how now Bennett will give me hugs all through out the day. And even though it is exhausting at times, I love that I am still his favorite person. I love that when I enter a room, he lights up. Every day he amazes me and I fall in love with him more and more. This past year has been the best year of my life. I am truly honored to be Bennett's mother and blessed with watching him learn and grow. I am sad that the year has flown by but I am also so happy with where we are now.

Sweet Bennett, I hope you always keep the curiosity and sense of humor that you have now. I hope you stay fearless but not reckless. And I hope that I will always be your favorite person.